Wallabies end All Blacks' winning run with 18-all draw
Wallabies hold world champs to a 18-18 draw in final Bledisloe Cup test
Dan Carter narrowly missed a drop goal after the final siren as the Wallabies ended the All Blacks' winning run with a fighting 18-18 try-less draw in the final Bledisloe Cup test yesterday.
The World Cup champions were chasing their 17th consecutive victory but were held by a gritty Wallabies side, missing many of their leading stars through injury.
The Australians looked set to pull off an upset with a 15-6 lead, but the All Blacks fought back to lead 18-15 with nine minutes left.
Fullback Mike Harris levelled the scores minutes later with his fifth penalty to set up a gripping finale where both sides had chances to clinch the win.
Skipper Richie McCaw took a scrum from a penalty deep in New Zealand territory to go after the win and after driving upfield and setting up for a chance at the winning drop goal, Carter's attempt sailed just wide of the right post to leave the scores deadlocked.
New Zealand were bidding to join the 1969 All Blacks and 1998 South African Springboks with 17 successive victories, but were once again foiled by the Wallabies, who ended New Zealand's unbeaten 15-match run in a 26-24 win in Hong Kong in 2010. The second-ranked Wallabies were also the last side to beat the All Blacks (25-20) in Brisbane 14 months ago.
"That's probably the ugliest game of rugby I've been involved in but at the end of the day it's an 18-all draw and obviously they [Australia] are pretty happy about it," New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said.